Senator shares personal accounts from people in Wyoming who are losing their coverage and seeing their health care costs skyrocket thanks to Obamacare.
Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s speech.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) shared personal stories from folks in Wyoming who are losing their health coverage and seeing their health care costs skyrocket due to the President’s health care law.
Excerpts of his remarks:
“As the Senator from Wyoming, I get home every weekend, talk to people. I was home this weekend for Veterans Day, and I was in the Target store in Casper—ran into a small business owner who has a small electric company that he runs, has about four people that work with him.
“He is somebody I have operated on, a former patient of mine. He told me that he was one of those 4 million Americans who had gotten that letter that he had lost his insurance.
“He said, ‘you know, the President promised that this would be easier to use than Amazon.com.’ He said, ‘I can’t get on. He said it would be cheaper than your cell phone bill. Well, that’s not been the case. He said ‘the President said if you like what you have, you can keep it—clearly not the case.’ He said, ‘what’s wrong? What’s wrong with this? How can we fix it?’
“I got another letter from a rancher I need to read to you from Newcastle, Wyoming. She says ‘we’re ranchers—we’re ranchers who buy our own health insurance. Currently, we pay $650 a month for an 80-20 policy with a $3,500 deductible.’
“She says ‘our maximum family out-of-pocket for family is $10,000 a year. We don’t carry maternity insurance,’ she said, ‘because we’ve completed our family.’
“She said, ‘I’m 45 years old,’ she said, ‘I’ve had a hysterectomy. I recently called my insurance agent out of fear our policy would be cancelled. Well, he said it would be cancelled at the renewal time.’
“She said, ‘he told me that their policy didn’t meet Obama’s requirement because of maternity coverage and they had to choose a policy from the exchanges.’
“Now remember, she’s had a hysterectomy. She doesn’t need or want or ever going to use maternity coverage.
“She said that the insurance agent quoted her rates for a comparable policy at $1,300 to $1,600 per month. Remember they’re now paying $650. She said that ‘the insurance agent also told me that they could take a bronze policy much less coverage than they currently have for $900’—still $250 a month higher than they’d have to pay.
“But the out-of-pocket costs then was much higher, much more difficult for the family.
“She said, ‘we’re being forced out of a good policy which we pay for with hard-earned money and which we choose into a dangerous financial health care situation with less coverage and which puts my husband and I, who are proud of our sustainability, on to what we consider the welfare rolls by needing a government subsidy to afford a plan that we don’t want or need.
“To say that we’re angry is an understatement. Why is this happening? Why can Obama force me into this? We feel helpless. So what are we supposed to do, just follow like sheep until we’re either bankrupt or welfare recipients?’
“This is not what the President of the United States promised the American people. It is not what every Democrat in this body who voted for this health care law promised the American people.
“The American people deserve better. They deserve to be able to get care that they need from a doctor that they choose at lower costs. None of that has come true under this health care law.”
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